Remember Me?
by MRLion2103
Summary: Yamuko wakes up in the hospital with no memories at all. She's visited by an ancient Egyptian spirit who tells her to be on her guard. There's danger out there, and even her friends aren't to be trusted so easily. Yamuko must navigate a world she knows very little about, one filled with friendship, deceit, betrayal, and plenty of cardgames.
1. Chapter 1

First it was dark. She thought that she heard screaming, or maybe an explosion or a crash, but she wasn't sure. The sound seemed so visible that she couldn't be sure whether it was sound or images. It might have been both.

Then the light came. A bright, blinding white light. Her vision was blurred and the brightness was causing her eyes to tear up, but it was an improvement. As she realized she was lying on her back she tried to sit up, only to find out that she couldn't move a muscle. Her limbs felt heavier than lead, and the darkness pulled at her again, welcoming her with a warm embrace. Determined to stay awake, she drew in a deep breath. She couldn't hear the sound but it seemed to have an effect of some sort.

"She's awake! Nurse!" Voices. Screaming. It was all too much, and the light was too bright. She gave in to the darkness, letting her eyes slip closed again. Voices, hands, then silence.

"She's still weak. She needs rest." Those were the last words before she slipped back into the familiar warmth of darkness.

"Yamuko." Yamuko? She blinked but it was dark. Her eyes soon grew accustomed to the darkness, though, and she was able to discern the room around her. There was a window on the left that allowed some moonlight to pour into the room. It had to be night, then. The room was almost empty. There were nightstands on either sides of her spacious bed and a television hang on the wall across from her. She recognized the wire in her arm as an IV drip. So this was a hospital. But there was no one else in the room! Who had said Yamuko, then?

"Yamuko." It was a soft voice. She looked up and saw a translucent woman standing beside her bed. Her hair was long and black, and she was dressed in wat seemed to be a cotton dress. "Ra be praised you're awake. We don't have a lot of time!" The shadow smiled.

"What?" Her voice was weak. The word passed her lips as little more than a whisper. "Yamuko… Is that me?" She added. The thought occurred to her that she should be screaming in fear, but the shadow seemed familiar and she had the feeling she could trust her. Aside from that, she couldn't gather the strength for a scream. The shadow stopped smiling.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know anything anymore." The girl sighed as she lowered her gaze. Then she spotted something strange. A golden bracelet on her upper arm. There were markings on it. It almost seemed like… "Hieroglyphs?"

"You know that much at least. Typical. You've forgotten your own name but you remember what hieroglyphs are." The shadow seemed to be smiling. Her figure trembled along with the laughter. Yamuko, she'd accept that name for now, sighed and turned back to look at the shadow.

"Who are you? Are you a ghost?" She asked. It felt almost rude to ask, and Yamuko felt a slight tinge of embarrassment colouring her cheeks.

"That bracelet connects me to you. My name is Anekshi." Anekshi. That name rung a bell. Yamuko looked at the bracelet again. She recognized the name between the hieroglyphs suddenly. "Yamuko we don't have time and this makes everything more dangerous! Listen to me. Tomorrow they will ask you what you remember." Anekshi insisted.

"Nothing at all." Yamuko smiled bitterly. "But I'm alone in a hospital room. The floor is covered in wood and the sheets are soft. This is a room for rich people. Am I rich?"

"You are but that doesn't matter! Well, it matters a little. Your name is Yamuko Hisakawa, the heir of the Hisakawa corporation. Your birthday is the 21st of March and you're seventeen years old."Anekshi said, she sounded rather impatient. "If they find out that you don't remember anything, then Hisakawa Corp will be stolen from you and you'll never find out what happened to your parents."

"My parents?" It was a lot to take in. Yamuko blinked as she tried to process it. "Heir. Do I have siblings? Who would steal Hisakawa Corp?" The ghost didn't answer her. Yamuko repeated her question, but Anekshi only looked at her with a guilty expression.

"You have… You had a brother. Daiki. They assume that he didn't survive the accident." Anekshi finally admitted.

"Missing." Yamuko nodded. Daiki. The name sounded familiar. Suddenly she recalled a face. It appeared to her more clearly than anything else in the room. Tanned skin, hair bleached blond and eyes as green and bright as emeralds. Daiki. She remembered him. He was a year older than she was, always in a good mood and athletic. They'd argued often enough. Suddenly she felt a tremendous pain shoot through her head, and everything that had seemed just within her grasp disappeared once again. Yamuko bit her lip in frustration before immediately releasing it in favour of biting her tongue. Never show indecisiveness.

"Was I trying to find out what happened to him?" Yamuko asked. Anekshi didn't answer her. Yamuko looked up, and realized she was alone in the room once again. Briefly she turned to look at the bracelet, reaching weakly to touch the metal. It didn't have any other answers for her. Exhausted, Yamuko dropped back onto her pillow and closed her eyes. She had a few hours before the nurses would come wake her again.

"Yamuko?" Yamuko blinked. She still had to get used to her name. If she could believe Anekshi, and if she hadn't hallucinated her, then she had to tread carefully. Yamuko opened her eyes and noticed the doctor standing close to her bedside. Standard uniform, clipboard, hair pinned up carefully. A career woman. Instinctively, Yamuko didn't trust her.

"What day is it?" She asked. That at least was something she could ask. The doctor smiled and Yamuko noticed a couple of guard looking types exchanging glances. Treason? No, it was too early to draw any conclusions…

"It's the sixteenth of June. You were in a coma for two weeks." Two weeks. That means the accident had taken place on June second. Yamuko furrowed her brows and tried in vain to remember anything at all. But the only thing she could remember was Daiki.

"Daiki." The name slipped off her lips before she realized it. "Where is Daiki?" People were mumbling around her. She'd said something wrong, obviously. Did she not remember? Amnesia? How much did she forget? People whispered it, apparently they didn't think she could hear them. Or maybe they didn't care. Yamuko blinked again, feeling a numb pain in her head. The doctor smiled.

"It looks like the accident caused some damage. We'll have to run a few tests just to see what the damage is exactly." The doctor smiled again and Yamuko got a strange feeling. We must limit the damage. Was that the voice of her brother? No, it was someone else. Another name drifted to the surface. Seto Kaiba. This time she didn't say it out loud. Much too dangerous and far too many people. As long as she hadn't hallucinated Anekshi, she might be able to ask her later.

"Don't worry. I'll help you." Anekshi's voice rang in her ears. So she hadn't hallucinated? Maybe she was just a projection of her memories, or the old her. Yamuko nodded, an answer to both women, and cast a glance around her.

"In private, if that's possible? Having all these people here makes it very difficult for me to concentrate. The room is still spinning." Yamuko offered her sweetest smile. It was of the utmost importance that she appeared unthreatening to whomever it was that would betray her. The doctor nodded in return and ordered for the room to be cleared.


	2. Chapter 2

"Three months." Yamuko smiled at Anekshi's translucent form. For someone who'd lost all her memories, she felt quite proud to have convinced medical professionals she'd only lost three months. Three months ago Daiki disappeared in an accident he couldn't possibly have survived. And yet no trace of him could be found. And another year before that, their parents had gone missing. Daiki had made finding out what happened his business. Yamuko sighed as the memories bubbled up only to immediately slip out of her grasp again.

"It'll be more difficult to trick your friends." Anekshi said, "you share many memories that I took no part in. I don't know those things, either." The ghost sat down on the mattress. It didn't shift to accomodate her presence, as she didn't have one, so Yamuko pretended she could feel the pressure. It felt like the polite thing to do.

"Maybe that won't be necessary. You know who they are at least. And until I've got everything figured out I should keep them at a distance." Yamuko glanced at her bracelet. The doctor had told her that it'd been impossible to remove during her stay at the hospital. Anekshi had said it was for the best as the bracelet was far too valuable, and far too dangerous. Yamuko didn't care much to learn about that at the moment.

"Tell me about them. Maybe it'll jog my memory." Yamuko sighed. At least the room was empty, however there were guards positioned right outside the door. It felt so foreign. If she was a rich heiress, why didn't it feel natural to be surrounded by bodyguards? Anekshi followed Yamuko's gaze. She seemed a little hesitant.

"There's Yugi, of course. He's your friend. Rather short and his hair is pretty wild. He's good at cardgames. A bit of a basketcase, really, but he does well for himself with the friends that he has. Then there's Tea. She's been Yugi's friend for a long time and she gets jealous when girls flirt with him, but you've never been the flirty type so you two got on well. And there's Joey and Tristan. Both are a little thick, they'd sooner use their head as a battering ram rather than the brain inside it, but they're loyal." Anekshi summed up the names, but no images appeared to her. It felt like something was missing. Anekshi was hiding something important, Yamuko was sure of it.

Before she could ask, there was a fierce knocking at the door. Yamuko hear voices outside. The loud voices of people who were doing their best not to yell. She straightened herself up to look composed.

"Come in!" If anything happened she could always call the guards. The door was nearly ripped from its hinged as it was pulled open, and a tall, imposing figure entered the room. He had brown hair and cold, blue eyes. His long coat floated around him like a cape as he strode. His steps were decisive and his expression even more so. Seto Kaiba. Yamuko gave him a small nod of recognition as she waited.

"Leave us! It's ridiculous enough that I wasn't allowed to see her for the past two weeks!" Seto snarled at the guards. Yamuko gave them a nod, signalling that it was fine. Apparently that was enough for them, because they left the room, closing the door as they went.

Yamuko wished that there was someone else in the room aside from herself and Seto. Anekshi was nowhere to be found now. She'd been able to convince a total stranger that she remembered everything, but could she convince a friend? As soon as they were alone, the cold expression on Seto's face softened. He almost smiled as he sat down at her bedside.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit you. I tried, but there was still an investigation going on. They think that there was foul play involved and someone hit you on purpose." He sighed and took her hand in his. Yamuko looked at his hand, then at his face. She knew it well, she knew she shared many memories with this man. If only she knew what they were. It looked like it might break his heart if she told him the truth. That aside, it could still be dangerous. Yamuko placed her hand over his and looked him in the eyes.

"Seto." The name sounded so familiar, even when it came from her lips. The blue eyes focused on her and Yamuko felt very watched. "They tell me I have amnesia." She lowered her eyes to his hands that grasped hers tighter.

"Amnesia?" He looked at her with incredulity, and something else Yamuko wasn't sure about. It didn't seem malignant, though. "How much do you remember?"

Yamuko sighed as she looked up from their hands. She couldn't tell him she didn't remember anything. She couldn't trust him, and she didn't want to risk hurting him. People who are hurt do ill-advised things, and one person is better at keeping secrets than two are. She shrugged.

"I remember who you are." She said. It wasn't exactly a lie. "The doctor says I'm missing three months, but it's a mess up here." Yamuko smiled as she raised her hand to tap against her temple. Seto's smile disappeared.

"Three months." He said. So something important had happened in that time. Yamuko tried to concentrate. What happened? What kind of relationship did they have?! As she was thinking, her eyes landed back on his hand. No rings. For some reason or another, that rung a bell.

"A ring would only distract you during your duels." She had no idea what that meant, but Seto seemed to recognize it. Tears welled up in his eyes and Yamuko felt so uncomfortable she'd very much have liked to have taken her hand back. It was still very sensitive, whatever 'it' was. She could even feel it herself. She felt a mild numbness that followed pain in her heart, even though she had no idea why.

"Yamuko… I thought that…" He whispered the last words, then cast his glance aside.

"It doesn't matter." No matter what it was. She could think about this later. Seto looked at her, shocked. Apparently she'd said something weird.

"I don't want things to end this way between us." Oh. Oh! Yamuko blinked as she realized what she'd just said and what it all meant in context. No ring, no marriage. No marriage, no relationship? What utter nonsense. Past Yamuko was weird.

"I'm not saying it's ending. It's more that… I understand a little better now. My whole head is in a state and I don't remember a lot of things. I don't want to make any plans for the future in this state, so let's just forget about rings until we're both able and willing to think about them, alright?" She wanted to tell him she'd forgotten everything, but the longer he stared at her the more she thought she remembered. This was someone she could trust. It just had to be.

"Oh, I thought you remembered our fight. A day before your accident we had plans, but we got into an argument about… It doesn't matter. When you didn't show up, I thought you were still mad. But when you didn't call…" Seto didn't say anything else. Neither did Yamuko, but that was caused by a sudden and brutal resurgence of her headache. She was vaguely aware that Seto grabbed her shoulders as she collapsed, groaning with pain.

 _"He can be so…" Yamuko groaned and smacked her hand against her thigh in frustration._ Next _to_ her _a girl with blonde hair and tanned skin laughed._

 _"Just spit it out. He's a jerk. A selfish, arrogant jerk who only cares about himself and that dumb_ cardgame _." The blonde girl grinned cheerfully and hooked her arm through Yamuko's. "Don't do that, you'll bruise yourself, dork."_

 _Yamuko playfully nudged her friend's shoulder with her own and laughed along. A traffic light turned to green and they started crossing. A zebra's crossing. Time seemed to slow down as they walked and Yamuko heard a horrifying sound. Scraping metal, a car that was picking up speed too fast. She turned and saw the car headed straight for her. Then there was a deafening blow. Floor, pain, and the sound of bones snapping._

 _In those last few seconds, she saw Ananke roll over the floor. Then yelling. A man she didn't recognize yelled her name so loud everyone looked at him. He kept yelling. Yamuko, heir of Hisakawa Corporation. Call an ambulance for Yamuko. As she was losing consciousness, Yamuko stared at Ananke. The unconscious body of her friend was being dragged off by men in purple capes._

"Ananke!" Yamuko yelled, grasping on to the nearest object. An arm. "Where's Ananke? Is she alright? Is she in this hospital?!" Seto looked at her in surprise.

"Ananke? Ananke is missing, Yamuko. Why would she be…-" He fell silent and stared at her. "Ananke was with you on the day of the accident? She hasn't been at school since, but everyone assumed she was playing truant." The realization came much too fast and Yamuko felt another jolt of pain. This time she was happy to hold onto Seto's arm. There were voices outside the room. This didn't bode well.

"Seto, listen to me and don't ask me any questions." She whispered in a rushed voice. "Don't tell anyone I remembered this. I don't know who I can trust at Hisakawa, and I don't trust that doctor in the slightest. She seemed very pleased to learn of my amnesia, and the accident was really a set up. But I wasn't the target, Ananke was the target. She was kidnapped when I was hit." She spoke as fast as she could. Luckily Seto seemed to follow her rambling and he nodded.

"I understand. I'll tell them you were shocked to hear she's missing." He sighed and brushed a hand over her cheek. "It must have been awful. I'll make arrangements so you can recover in my house, not here."

The door swung open and the doctor stormed in. She gave Seto a dirty look but when he wasn't impressed quickly turned her attention to Yamuko who was still clinging to his arm. Suddenly, Yamuko felt dizzy and let her head drop against his shoulder.

"I think you've caused enough trouble here. She needs rest. This is no time for extreme emotions!" The doctor spat it out like venom. Seto remained unimpressed. The coldness had returned to his eyes and he sat up straight.

"Of course you'd rather I don't tell her anything about her best friend while she worries herself into a heart attack because no one will tell her what happened to her best friend or where she is." His tone was cold, bitter. Yamuko turned her head slightly, whispering as inconspicuously as she could.

"Find her. There were men in purple capes." Then she lowered herself onto her back. "He was only answering my questions. It wasn't his fault." Seto looked at her for a moment. He said nothing, didn't even nod, yet Yamuko felt like he had. Then he rose and left the room as dramatically as he'd entered it.

The doctor seemed mad, but calmed when the door slammed shut. That strange smile appeared back on her face and Yamuko did her best not to show that she was bracing herself for the worst. If only she could call Seto back into the room. But this was a dragon she had to deal with on her own.

"That was quite the commotion, Yamuko. Did you remember something?" The doctor asked, seemingly innocently.

"Not at all. I was just surprised." Yamuko lied through her teeth.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a whole week before Seto would be able to take her out of that place. During that time, Yamuko was increasingly investigated. Police officers came to visit her and question her about the accident, though she could hardly talk with the nurses and doctors, and even her own bodyguards fluttering around her, watching her every step. The painstaking process of rehabilitation also began, and it was a tough one. Though two weeks wasn't a long enough time for her muscles to atrophy, her body was in shambles. The left side of her ribcage was rife with fractures from where she'd been hit by the car. Her right arm had also broken in three separate spots from her attempt to break her fall with it. As far as she could tell, she was very lucky not to have any internal organ damage, but as soon as the painkillers wore off she couldn't breathe without pain.

On top of the painful recovery, her friends kept trying to visit her in the hospital. Seto Kaiba hadn't come after his initial visit, but the friends Anekshi had described had come knocking, along with some others Anekshi refused to talk about. Yamuko had managed to avoid them so far, allowing the strange doctor to shoo them away with talk of rest and recovery, but she knew she couldn't keep them at a distance for long. They were persistent, and it would soon become suspicious that she didn't want to see them. And so it was that after five days, Yamuko reluctantly welcomed her apparent schoolmates into her hospital room.

"That's a nice set-up you've got Yamuko!" The blond one called Joey grinned as he poked around in her room, opening the drawers of the nightstands and inspecting the likely expensive flowers and other well-wishing gifts delivered to her room. Tea seemed to be disgruntled with him for this, but let it slide in favour of sidling up to you.

"How are you feeling Yamuko? They talked about the accident on the news, it sounded horrible." She asked, and Yamuko didn't doubt that she did feel terrible about this business. However, there was someone in the room she was more interested in. Specifically because Anekshi hadn't mentioned him. It could of course be coincidence that she hadn't mentioned the white-haired pale boy, maybe they hadn't been particularly close, but it didn't seem that way from the way he was staring at her.

"I'm fine Tea. A little bruised here and there but I'll be okay." Yamuko gave her a smile, then winced as she propped herself up against her pillow. Tea gasped in shock at the sound, rushing to help her adjust the pillows. It was embarrassing. Yamuko was sure that even before she'd lost her memories, she would have found this embarrassing.

"So how have you all been, huh? Is school fun?" She asked. It seemed like a safe topic to ask about, just as long as it didn't come down to specifics. Tea gave Yugi, who'd taken a seat on the other side of the bed, a glance, before starting to chatter.

"Things have all really slowed down since the Duel Monsters tournament." She started off, but Yamuko was already lost. Against all her instincts and plans, Yamuko raised a hand to cut Tea off.

"Ehm… Sorry, but could you start three months ago? They say I've lost my memories since then." She offered a guilty smile. Tea gasped again, so Yamuko turned to Yugi in the hope that he would be a little easier to deal with. It was clear that Tea felt very strongly about Yamuko's hardships, but Yamuko couldn't stand the thought that she didn't know this person who apparently cared about her. It felt wrong and broken somehow. Tea wasn't like Seto, who'd sparked at least something in her blank mind. She was a new name, a new face.

"Oh, so you don't even remember Duelist Kingdom?" Yugi asked, perking up. He seemed excited to talk about it. Maybe there was something about this person that she remembered. Yamuko noticed a flicker in the corner of the room. Anekshi was here, and her gaze was fixed firmly on Yugi. She seemed to care a great deal about the boy.

"Duelist Kingdom? That sounds exciting!" Yamuko encouraged him, smiling. If she made them talk, then she wouldn't have to. And if she didn't have to talk, no one would realize she was making everything up as they went along. Yugi's expression briefly dimmed, and he tapped his fingers together.

"Well, it didn't start out like that. It's super hard to explain Yamuko." He paused and continued to stare at his hands. Hard to explain? What could be hard to explain about entering a tournament? Just how much had she forgotten? Yamuko frowned and redirected her gaze to the unknown boy she'd felt a strange curiousity about. Just who was he?

"I suppose he's worried you wouldn't believe him. After all, it is a difficult story to explain." The stranger said. He had a British accent, Yamuko noted. How charming. She gave him a nod before turning her gaze back to Yugi.

"We're friends aren't we? I'll believe you no matter what you tell me." She offered, hoping it'd get Yugi to speak. He looked up at her and smiled, nodding. Good.

"I'm glad the accident didn't change you as a person Yamuko. The thing is, before the tournament even started, I had a duel with Kaiba. I defeated him in Duel Monsters, and apparently someone was watching, because I got a video from Maximillian Pegasus. He challenged me to a duel because I defeated Kaiba, but…" Yugi paused again, looking uncomfortable with the subject. Yamuko glanced around the room, but everyone seemed uncomfortable with the topic. Only the stranger would meet her gaze, and he gave her a friendly smile.

"Pegasus invited Yugi to enter the tournament." He stated rather simply. It was obvious that there was more behind it, but no one seemed willing to talk about it. Yamuko chose to accept that and nodded, turning back to Yugi.

"So what happened? After you entered the tournament I mean?" She smiled. Though she couldn't quite remember it, Duel Monsters was a game she was very fond of. She had her own deck somewhere, too. Maybe they could all just spend time playing the game. It was an appealing thought.

"Well, I entered but Joey also entered with me. In the tournament, you gathered star chips and I gave one to Joey. Then it turned out that Tristan and Tea both stowed away and came with us to the tournament! It took place on an island so we had to take a boat there." Yugi rambled on. As he spoke more, he got more and more excited about it. He talked about the card games he'd played and the many new people he'd met. Soon, Joey also joined in to talk about his games.

"We should play a few rounds!" Yamuko clapped her hands in excitement, before wincing at feeling her broken arm disagree with that action. Despite their initial concern, everyone seemed excited about that and it was arranged that the next day, everyone would come back with their decks in tow. And since Yamuko didn't have hers, they promised to let her borrow some cards.

Before they could plan anything else, the nurses came to shoo everyone out. Yamuko's friends quickly left the room after waving a quick goodbye. Everyone except for the white-haired stranger, who stepped closer to her bedside. Yamuko could vaguely hear a buzzing noise, though she couldn't pinpoint it. And there was that strange feeling again. She looked up at him, waiting for what he had to say. But when he opened his mouth, Yamuko felt her heart sink.

"You don't remember me, do you?"


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm… sorry?" Yamuko said as she looked at the boy at her bedside. He laughed and reached a hand behind his head, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

"Well… You said you didn't remember the past three months but I only transferred two months ago. Thanks for being so polite about it. I guess it must be weird." He offered, smiling sheepishly. At once Yamuko felt relief and she let out a sigh.

"I… I have to say… I was confused about you." She admitted, "but I felt really sure that I knew you somehow. If that makes sense." Yamuko tapped the side of her head, unhappy with her lack of memories. They were all clearly nice people, but she couldn't remember them at all.

"In that case, my name is Ryou Bakura. It's nice to meet you. Again." Ryou smiled, holding out his hand to her. Laughing, Yamuko took the hand he'd extended to her and shook it. This was nice. Not just because she didn't have to pretend to remember anything around him, it just truly did. The nurses looked at Ryou with disdain, clearly nudging at him to try and get him to leave.

"It's really nice to meet you too. Again." Yamuko offered, wondering how long she could hold his hand until it became strange. "And thank you for coming to visit me, Ryou."

"Of course! You don't remember it but we actually got kind of close. We like similar Duel Monster cards. I'll see if I can find a couple that you also used, and I'll bring them tomorrow." He offered, "but it seems I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow!" He almost yelped the last part as the nurses practically pushed him out of the room. Yamuko waved him out, then sighed as she was left alone with the fussy nurses. It was time for her rehabilitation exercises.

"So why didn't you tell me about Ryou?" Yamuko asked at no one in particular. She was alone in the room, but Anekshi hadn't appeared as she usually did. Yamuko assumed that Anekshi was feeling weird about something, but since she seemed to be aware of everything that happened even when Yamuko couldn't see her, Yamuko assumed that she was probably listening.

"Is it because I only met him two months ago? You didn't tell me about Ananke either. I don't like that you're hiding things from me when you're telling me I have to be careful. Clearly, I can't trust that doctor, and fishy stuff is going on, but I'd like to at least be able to trust you." Yamuko tried, sighing as she turned her head to look out the window. It was starting to get dark. She'd lost much of her strength in the arm with fractures. It was a problem because she'd broken her right arm, and apparently she was left handed. Yes, she could still write, but her right arm was her load bearing arm and many things she wanted to do automatically with it just didn't work anymore.

Yamuko dropped her gaze back to her arm, studying the bracelet on her upper arm. It'd been there all this time, through the accident, but it didn't have a scratch on it. In fact, it hardly looked like it was an ancient artefact. She was startled when the ghostly hand of Anekshi appeared, tracing over the hieroglyphs.

"Did you know this belonged to me, a long time ago?" Anekshi's voice was frail. "It was made for me. Here, this part is my name." She traced a oval around certain hieroglyphs. Cartouche, the mark of a royal name. It popped into her mind before Yamuko even noticed. Why did she know these things? Why was ancient Egypt so important to her that her knowledge of it surpassed her amnesia?

"There's another name on it." Yamuko remarked as she twisted her arm slightly, wincing at the pain. But now she was able to see the edge of a second cartouche. Though she couldn't quite see the hieroglyphs inside, she knew they were different from Anekshi's name. Anekshi let out a hollow laugh and her form appeared on the bed in front of Yamuko.

"As you are now, I don't know if you would believe me if I told you the history of this bracelet." She said, and Yamuko felt that strange sense of almost but not quite remembering something. Frustrating. She nodded at Anekshi and waited.

"I'll be more likely to believe you if you tell me than if you don't." She offered, "I'm in a strange place surrounded by people I don't or barely remember. Please?" She pleaded. Anekshi sighed, and a cold feeling rippled through Yamuko.

"I'll tell you some of it. This may sound strange to you, but even after thousands of years, there are things I find difficult to discuss." Anekshi folded her legs and straightened herself up. Suddenly Yamuko felt that Anekshi looked quite regal.

"Long ago, I lived in Egypt in the pharaoh's court. It was very different from this day and age. Royal blood was treasured above all else. To have royal blood meant you were half a god, and I had royal blood. Because of how much it was valued, marriage were very limited. It's not unlike the situation you are in now, Yamuko." Anekshi smiled sadly, shaking her head. "I was betrothed to marry the man whose name is in that cartouche. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that we didn't love each other when we were betrothed. And yet my soul is connected to this bracelet, it is all that keeps me in the land of the living. I was trapped, unable to pass over and I was alone for millennia."

Anekshi paused for a few moments and Yamuko felt nauseous suddenly. Not because she was physically ill, she felt the nausea of anxiety, knowing something bad is lingering. She'd heard this story before, or at least parts of it. Anekshi's life had been cut short suddenly and tragically. Though she'd never heard the details, Yamuko knew that there was something about her death that Anekshi hadn't been able to settle, something that was more hurtful to her than having died so young, betrothed to a man she didn't love.

"And then I met you." Anekshi's face lit up. "You and your deep love of archaeology. An ungrateful interest, but you said you'd pick it over running a company happily. Your parents took you on holiday to Egypt, and we found each other." Yamuko suddenly remembered it.

She'd been much younger, not even in secondary school. It had been a bright day, the sky was the bluest she'd ever seen, and her parents were trying to bargain with some salesman over food. Something had called her, and she had no choice but to follow it.

"You chastised me for putting random jewellery on my arm." Yamuko smiled fondly at the memory. "What if it'd been cursed? And then you realized I could hear you."

Anekshi laughed. It sounded like the happy skipping of water in a creek. "You remembered? I should have scolded you for wearing a princess' jewellery. Your parents weren't too happy with you, but you couldn't be separated from me from that day forward. You were similar to me then, but now you seem even more similar."

Anekshi paused again, a pained expression on her face. More similar? Seto? Yamuko wondered if she was betrothed to Seto, but it didn't seem to make sense in this modern day and age. Then again, companies often were a bit behind on the times when it came to business connections.

"Because of Seto? Do we… Dislike each other?" Yamuko asked, wrecking her brain to try and remember anything. Seto was special to her, somehow. She remembered him, and she remembered feeling warm towards him, but just because she didn't feel in love with him didn't mean things were that bad, did they?

"Before the accident, you were close to walking down the same path I had. I didn't love the man I was betrothed to, but I loved someone else. And you… You've always denied it, but I saw how close you and Bakura got in just a few weeks. You were always together, had so many things in common. That's what your argument with Seto was about." Anekshi confirmed. Yamuko bit her tongue, trying to sort everything in her head. If she was in love with Ryou, clearly she should have remembered him and not Seto. But she'd remembered Seto.

"Just what kind of person was I?" She asked, not specifically Anekshi, and sighed as she leaned her head back to look at the ceiling. It didn't have any answers for her. "I didn't know his name, but I felt closer to Ryou. I remembered Seto, but I didn't know we were a couple… This is insane." She shook her head.

"I hoped you'd forget all about Bakura, and that things would be easier for you than they'd been for me." Anekshi sighed. "He's not a bad guy, he's a nice guy. He came to see you before when you were unconscious, but they wouldn't let him in of course. I hope you'll be careful when they come back tomorrow."

Yamuko nodded, then yawned. She was exhausted. Her body, still broken, was now also sore from the exercises they'd made her do, and her mind had been eased a little. She gave Anekshi a nod and yawned again, closing her eyes. Yamuko didn't remember, nor would she for a while, that Anekshi had avoided talking about Ananke. Instead she sank into a deep, dreamless slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

"Guess who's back?!" Joey triumphantly marched into the room, carrying something that looked like a table. He was followed by the rest of the group who were carrying various other things, including flowers, a plastic bag filled with indeterminable goods and… balloons? Yamuko raised an eyebrow at those but smiled to see her friends anyway. Joey planted the low table over her form and suddenly Yamuko realized it had the Duel Monster's game layout inscribed on it.

"This is awesome! Where did you even get this?" She asked, excitedly smiling at Joey who seemed pretty proud of himself. He deserved to feel proud today. This would be great for playing games! Yamuko wished more than anything that she had her deck in the hospital.

"I made this bad boy myself!" Joey boasted, "so that means I get dibs on the first game! Let's play Yamuko!"

"What? Don't lie! We all helped make this! Besides, you just think you're going to get the better of her because Yamuko doesn't have her normal deck." Tea whacked him over the head. Yamuko laughed but then her gaze fell on Ryou. He smiled and gave her a small wave.

"We brought flowers. Irises, even though I know you like gardenias more." He smiled as he held up a bouquet of Japanese irises. Yamuko gave a small nod as she watched him carefully set place them in a vase. He arranged them carefully before giving her another glance. "You like irises, too, right?" He asked. Yamuko nodded quickly, laughing awkwardly.

"Yeah I do, I just wish I remembered telling you that." She sighed, trying to shift in her bed before being painfully reminded of her injuries. Yamuko groaned as she reached for her arm, brushing her fingers momentarily over the bracelet. Then she noticed something strange. Next to Yugi, only for a few moments, there was another Yugi. It wasn't double vision, because this other Yugi was taller and had old, serious eyes. Strange. He appeared exactly the same way Anekshi did.

"Are you okay?" Ryou asked. He'd gotten closer while she was looking away. Yamuko gave a tentative nod, forcing a smile before giving Yugi another glance. She had a strange feeling about what she'd just seen. Joey, clearly impatient, interrupted the relative peace with an outcry.

"Are we playing or what?! You've got time to be bored once we're gone Yamuko!" He grinned. Yamuko gave a small nod, and reached out to take the cards that Yugi was offering her. Since she didn't have her own. She tried shuffling them, but the pain in her right arm flared up so strongly she accidentally dropped the cards to hold her arm. Everyone noticed, though luckily they were nice enough not to comment about it. That would have hurt her a lot more.

"How about we play a tag duel?" Ryou suggest with a friendly smile, sitting down beside Yamuko and picking up the cards she'd dropped to shuffle them. "Yugi, Joey? How about it?" He gave Yamuko a comforting smile. She nodded appreciatively, though she wasn't quite comfortable with how close he suddenly was to her.

Yugi and Joey agreed, but Yamuko couldn't help but think it was unfair. After all, it was three to two this way. The spirit that resembled Yugi lingered behind him. Then suddenly his eyes raised to meet her stare. Time seemed to come to a halt as he stared her down, a sense of authority and power exuded from his gaze. Yet Yamuko couldn't bring herself to cast her eyes down. It was as if she'd need permission for it. It seemed the others must have caught on to her staring, because they all reacted in their own ways.

Ryou carefully nudged her, Joey asked what was wrong, but Yugi turned to look at the spirit as well. So he could see him, too? Yamuko cleared her throat and looked at Yugi now. He looked away, quickly preparing his cards to shuffle them.

"So how do you want to go about this? Do we take turns alternatively? Since you're having trouble with the cards." Yugi smiled as he pulled up a chair. Yamuko gave a small nod before glancing at the spirit again.

"It is two versus two, right?" She asked, almost directly at the spirit. To her surprise, he cracked a smile. Yugi glanced back at the spirit in a hurry and gasped.

"You… Can see him?" He asked, his fingers trembling.

"See what Yuug? What are you two talking about?" Joey insisted, tousling Yugi's hair a bit roughly. It's strange shape persisted, though. Yamuko quickly turned her attention back to her cards. It seemed that wasn't an open secret. How strange. She turned her head to look at Ryou, but he wore a pained expression on his face.

"Hey, Ryou… Are you okay?" She asked as he clutched his head in his hands. She reached a hand up carefully to touch his shoulder, but almost jerked her hand back. There was what she could only describe as a strange energy surrounding him. It almost hurt to touch him. He hadn't been like this before at all. What was going on? Ryou slowly rose from the bed, placing the cards down in front of Yamuko.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to get some water." He said rather quietly. His voice was different. There was a coldness to it. Yamuko nodded and watched as Ryou left the room without so much as another glance. The door didn't slam shut behind him, but it might as well have. The others all looked after him with concern. Yamuko decided to take this moment as her chance.

"Hey, would you guys mind checking to see if he's okay? I'm really worried." She offered her kindest smile, but it wasn't even necessary. Joey and Tristan were already up. Now it was just Tea and Yugi left in the room. Yamuko glanced at them, then turned her attention to Yugi.

She didn't have to say anything. As she looked at him, she noticed the spirit of Anekshi appearing at her side. The spirit reached out, placing a hand over Yamuko's. It was strange but Yamuko suddenly felt herself being pushed backwards. Not physically, but it felt as if she grew smaller until she was only a spectator in her own body. It felt foreign, but not unfamiliar.

"I'd like to have a few words with you, Yugi." It was her voice speaking, but it wasn't her. Yamuko could only watch as her body reacted without her control. A strange sense of panic set in, but then she recognized something in her own voice. Anekshi. She'd taken over her body!

"I think that's a good idea." Yugi replied hesitantly, and Yamuko noticed the strange spirit absorb into Yugi's body. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

That's what his voice should be like, Yamuko thought immediately. The spirit had been regal in appearance, so this deep, commanding voice suited him well. She liked it, and got the strange sensation of having heard it before.

"I can't explain it well but there is danger headed straight for you, Pharaoh." Pharaoh?! Yamuko would have jolted if she could. Tea gasped in shock, but Yugi, the spirit in his body, didn't seem affected.

"So you knew." He spoke rather softly, with the tone of someone confirming his suspicion. Yamuko felt her head nodding. Anekshi was answering. Of course, Anekshi would know. As she spoke, Yamuko felt herself being drawn back into memories that didn't belong to her. Memories of Anekshi's.

 _A palace in the dessert. Heat, so much heat. Slaves and servants, hundreds of them. Important meetings. Officers rushing past her to an important meeting, and the feeling of helplessness because no one would tell her what was going on. And a sense of fear._

 _"_ _Where is he? Why didn't he come to visit me?" They weren't her thoughts. They were Anekshi's thoughts. Yamuko focused on them. He. She instinctively knew that it wasn't the priest Anekshi was engaged to. It was someone else. Someone she recognized. But just as the name seemed within her grasp, Yamuko felt herself ousted from the memories._

"Yamuko, are you okay?" Tea. She couldn't see her, but moments later Yamuko realized it was because her eyes were closed. With a groan she opened them, and saw Yugi and Tea looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." She muttered as she tried to sit up straight. Her body reminded her immediately of how broken it was, and Yamuko grumpily gave up on trying to move.

"What happened?" Tea again. Tea was asking all the questions, Yugi just looked at her. He was back to his normal self, too. "You started saying really weird things. And then you called Yugi a pharaoh."

Yamuko sighed as she brushed the hair out of her face. She couldn't explain it all if she tried. And it seemed that this close-knit group of friends still had some secrets from each other. Her eyes wandered to the door. Joey and Tristan weren't back, nor was Ryou. So it couldn't have been that long, right?

"I don't know if you'll think I'm crazy or not, but I…" Yamuko halted herself. Deep within herself, she felt doubt. She didn't trust them. She didn't fully trust anyone. And neither did Anekshi, she knew that. "I saw a spirit lingering around Yugi. He is the pharaoh, isn't he?" She looked at Yugi who nodded with a guilty look on his face.

"How did you know?" He asked weakly. "You sounded so convinced just now. He doesn't even know what's going on." Yugi cast his glance down.

"I don't know. I don't have answers. I just see weird things and I don't like it." Yamuko muttered as she looked at the cards in front of her. One of them was turned over. The Change of Heart spell card. It seemed to be playing with her mind. "I don't think I can talk about this anymore. And I want to know how Ryou is doing."


	6. Chapter 6

Yugi left to try and find Ryou while Tea stayed by Yamuko's side. The brunette tried to engage Yamuko in more talking, but Yamuko couldn't bring herself to talk. Her feeble fingers, so weak it frustrated her, clutched the cards Ryou had left in front of her. Somehow, it felt like she wouldn't see Ryou for a very long time. The Change of Heart card seemed to be staring at her, mocking her somehow.

"So… What's going on between you and Kaiba anyway?" Tea asked, having given up on prodding about Yugi and the spirit of the pharaoh. She sat down by Yamuko's bedside and leaned back, propping her hands behind her head. "I mean… You two have been really weird. I thought you were close to him but you got super close to Bakura in no time at all. Has he come to visit you?"

It didn't sound judgemental, and yet Yamuko felt judged. She got close to Ryou too fast? What did that have to do with anything? She pondered on how close she'd been to Tea in the first place. Anekshi had told her Tea liked her well enough because she didn't flirt with Yugi, so maybe she could talk about this stuff? Yamuko almost shrugged against her thoughts but had to stop because of the pain.

"Well… It's… We had a fight before the accident, apparently. I don't know what about, though, so don't ask me." She offered, slowly picking up the cards on her lap and flipping through them. These all seemed so familiar. She knew them all, she knew how they worked. Just for a moment she remembered playing the game with Ryou. They'd spent a lot of school lunches doing that, hadn't they?

"Yeah but… Are you two still… Whatever you two were?" Tea asked. It felt like she was prying, but not in a malignant way. Yamuko blinked as she realized it and let out a chuckle. Gossip. They were gossiping. Everything had been so tense and stressed the past few days, she'd almost forgotten casual conversation like this existed. Yamuko turned her head to look at the surprised Tea and decided that, at least on this level, she could trust the girl.

"We're fine. He came to visit me the day after I woke up. Almost broke down the door, too. He's moving me to his house to recover there because…" No. She couldn't tell Tea that.

"Because Kaiba Corp. has the best medical care?" Tea filled in, the grin in her voice was audible. Yamuko decided to go with that and nodded, stopping to look at the cards in her hands again. Lady of Faith, a monster card. Not extraordinary high level, but another poignant name. Faith? Yamuko picked it up in her left hand and raised it so she could observe it more closely.

"Seto would think this is all nonsense." Yamuko said as she shuffled the card back into her deck. "He doesn't believe in things like magic and destiny." She leaned back slightly as Tea nodded. This seemed to be well known about Seto. Tea sighed and sat up straight in her chair.

"I wonder what you two fought about. Don't take this the wrong way Yamuko, but you and Bakura really got close. Almost instantly. I don't blame you or anything, but I'm curious what you and Bakura are to each other." There it was. Judgement. Yamuko didn't shrug this time but shook her head.

"What we were. It's all gone now. Who's to say that I'll remember it all? Or that if I do, we'll go back to being the same way we used to be? I feel like everything is already way too complicated." And it was, but somehow it was less complicated the second Ryou walked into the room.

"That's a shame. I think it was good for him. He seemed a lot happier and less stressed. When you weren't around…" She paused and shook her head. "He was devastated after we got the news. Not like Tristan or Joey would be, but in that silently broken way of his. He didn't speak much, he didn't act like himself. I think that you and him are good for each other."

Yamuko urgently didn't want to discuss this with Tea. While gossiping and casual conversations were nice, she felt uncomfortable discussing things so personal to her. Even though she didn't remember it, the time she spent with Ryou was a time that only belonged to the two of them. It flourished in the absence of peering eyes. And Seto… Seto was even worse than that. Unless they were alone, she was nearly invisible to him. The reasons were obvious when one took the history of Kaiba Corp. in consideration, but she still felt far away from him. Yamuko groaned and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Tea, do you think you could ask for a glass of water for me? I'm feeling a little light headed." As she asked it, Yamuko was very aware that there was a large red button not too far from her hand that she could push at any time to call for a nurse. Tea, however, seemed to get the hint. She gave Yamuko a sad smile and left the room.

Suddenly it was quiet again. All her apparent friends were gone, and Yamuko was left alone in the room with an inconvenient game table on her bed. It was alright, though. Yamuko turned her head to the side to look out the window. There wasn't much to see out there. Skyscrapers and sky. Some clouds, but not many. It was a rather clear day. Yamuko wondered if it was warm outside. The clouds moved slowly, peacefully, so it probably wasn't a windy day. Her thoughts drifted like the clouds, but were called to attention again with a sharp knock on the door.

"Knock knock." It would have sounded like Ryou's usual playful tone, if it wasn't for the coldness. Yamuko looked up at him and shivered. It was him, but it wasn't him. Everything about him was the absolute opposite, and yet he looked the same.

"Who's there?" She asked listlessly. Ryou chuckled and stepped into the room. The air felt static and charged. His presence was domineering, and Yamuko had to avert her eyes. She caught a glimpse of Anekshi in the corner, whose face was contorted in agony and horror. As long as she wasn't imagining Anekshi, then she clearly wasn't imagining the rest either. And by now Yamuko was fairly certain that Anekshi was real.

"It's me. I didn't think I'd come back to find you all alone. Where did they all go?" He asked. His tone was now mocking as he made his way across the room. Yamuko felt her chest tighten. It was difficult to breathe with _him_ in the room. He smiled, bearing his teeth like a shark. Every footstep was pounding on her and the silence was almost deafening.

"Joey and Tristan went to look for you, Yugi went to look for them and Tea went to get me some water." Yamuko felt her voice becoming weaker as she spoke. He'd reached the side of her bed now. With a single movement of his hands, the table Joey had made was flung from her bed. She gasped, reaching out for it, but Bakura pushed it away with his feet. Then he sat down on the bed, staring at her like a vulture waiting for his prey to die.

"Smart." He leaned closer and Yamuko felt the same strange energy she felt before. "It can be a little hard to get some rest with all of us around, I get that." He offered it with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Yamuko could only nod and hope that the others were anywhere nearby.

"Your cards." She was surprised the words sounded as natural as they did. Bakura looked down at her hands that were holding his cards. "We played with these often, didn't we? I remember it."

What was she trying to do? Yamuko didn't understand why, but everything in her desperately wanted to recall Ryou and every moment they'd spent together. Maybe, if she kept reminding him, Bakura would become normal again, too. Bakura placed a hand over hers, holding the cards. The instant he touched her, Yamuko felt nauseous. With a grin, Bakura pushed the cards towards her, pressing them against her arm.

"They're old. I have a new deck. You can keep them." His hand reached up further, touching her bare arm. It was just centimetres under the golden bracelet around her upper arm. His face came closer to hers than ever. "There is just something about you I can't put my finger on. Something interesting and annoying. For now, let's stay close."

His other hand had found its way under her chin, raising it to make her look at him. His eyes were endlessly dark. The darkness summoned an arcane fear in her. The feeling of something horribly wrong and twisted clawing its way out from the darkest corners of her mind. Yamuko blinked, she couldn't help herself.

"Ryou, you're hurting me." Her voice cracked. Bakura grinned, then straightened up. His arms dropped to both sides of you as he closed his eyes. His expression softened, and suddenly the tension that had been crushing her was lifted. Yamuko knew instantly that Ryou was back to normal. She almost wanted to hug him from relief. Ryou blinked a few times and looked at her before jumping up from the bed, his cheeks darkening.

"Yamuko, are you alright?! I'm so sorry… I…" He stammered helplessly. Yamuko shook her head and patted the spot beside her, mentioning for him to sit down again.

"Will you help me go through the cards? I'm sure the others will be back soon. You gave us all a scare." She smiled at him, "it looked like you had a bad headache." Ryou looked at her pensively, keeping a distance. He seemed to be thinking about something hard. Yamuko wondered if Ryou was aware of the strangeness going on. She wasn't sure what happened to Ryou, but he seemed to have been just as possessed as she'd been by Anekshi not too long earlier. But Anekshi had been visible, and the pharaoh's spirit had also wondered around. How strange was it that there were this many spirits lingering around here?

"I didn't do anything weird, did I?" Ryou asked, hesitantly taking a seat on the bed. Yamuko shook her head. He seemed pretty worked up about it. And the way she considered it, Ryou hadn't done anything. Whatever that was that had been in her room, it hadn't been Ryou. It only looked like him.

"No, you just looked like you had a headache and then you left. I was really worried. I sent all of them after you. Are you feeling better?" Yamuko wondered if she'd taken any acting classes before the accident, because it seemed like everyone was buying everything she told them. Then again, she was their friend. They had no reason to believe she would ever lie to them.

"Yeah, I feel okay now. Let's go through the cards then. We used to play with these between classes, but you don't remember that." Ryou laughed a little uncomfortably, flipping through the cards. They looked extremely familiar.

"Actually… When I look at them I remember it a little bit. You like the Change of Heart card most, right?" Yamuko had no idea why she knew that, but Ryou nodded affirmatively. He moved a little closer to her on the bed and continued flipping through the cards slowly, rattling off their effects and stats, and sometimes told a little story about the games they'd played together. They were still sitting like that when the others made their way back.

"What the… Very sneaky guys. And here we were chasing Bakura all around the hospital. You just didn't want to share the snacks, did you?" Joey yelled accusingly. Tea giggled behind her hand as Ryou jumped up, flustered.

"N-no, no we didn't even eat them! We were just… Waiting for you all to come back."

"Sure… I'll have to check to make sure." Joey grinned as he walked over to the bag of snacks, opening up a packet of crisps and starting to shovel them into his mouth. Yamuko chuckled and shook her head, turning back to the cards.

"Hey, what happened to my table?" Joey asked as he noticed the game table lying beside the bed. Yamuko almost shivered as she remembered what Bakura did.

"Oh… It was… It was hurting my leg a little. I shifted a little and it fell. I tried to get it back but I couldn't reach from here." Yamuko fibbed quickly. Ryou gave her an uncomfortable look but Yamuko just smiled at him. You did nothing, she wanted to tell him so desperately. You're fine, you didn't hurt me.

"Oh. My bad I guess." Joey grinned and continued shovelling food into his mouth. Tristan decided to join in on the action as Tea and Yugi made their ways back to Yamuko's bed.

"Since we're all back, maybe we can play a game now?" He suggested hopefully.

"I think that Yamuko's had enough excitement for today. And so does the rest of the hospital." A nurse. Yamuko vaguely recognized her, she was often with the untrustworthy doctor. Based on Joey and Tristan's expressions, though, they had done something to cause trouble in the hospital.

"Ah man. Just when it was gonna get fun." Joey grumbled. "We'll come back tomorrow Yamuko! We've got a score to settle whether you remember it or not." He grinned, and was subsequently dragged out of the room by the nurse.

"Sorry it didn't work out you guys. I'm leaving the hospital tomorrow but I won't make you wait another three weeks." Yamuko smiled, handing Ryou back his cards. It felt like he would need them. Yugi nodded. He had a concerned look on his face that Yamuko decided to ignore for now. There were too many things to worry about right now. And so she waved them all off.


	7. Chapter 7

Yamuko couldn't sleep. After she'd woken from her coma, it had been difficult to sleep in general, but this night her stomach twisted and churned. Restless, she gazed out of the window. The curtains were drawn, but behind them she could see the lights of the city. A city that didn't sleep. Yamuko wondered whether or not her friends were asleep, and then inevitably thought about Ryou. She shivered and bit her tongue, trying to supress the resurging nausea.

"You really should try and sleep a little Yamuko." Came Anekshi's soft voice. Yamuko pushed herself to wonder if Anekshi sounded so gentle because of her past, but the visage of Ryou's shark-like grin haunted her. She shook her head to get rid of it before she realized Anekshi thought she was answering her.

"That's rich coming from you. Do spirits sleep?" Yamuko asked with a weak smile, turning to look at Anekshi's translucent form. Her dress had small details sown into its seems. At first glance it appeared simple, but looking closer Yamuko could tell it was a royal gown.

"I spent several hundred years doing the spirit equivalent of sleeping." Anekshi's said, raising her chin with indignance. Yamuko did her best not to laugh. Partially because it was late and she didn't want people to hear her, and partially because it still hurt too much.

"You're thinking about Bakura, aren't you?" Anekshi glided over the floor towards her bed, taking a seat at the foot. Yamuko nodded.

"I'm guessing you are, too? What happened to him? It was like there was a different person inside his body." Yamuko shivered at the memory and reached a hand up to touch her arm. Her fingers brushed over the skin he'd touched, as if she could erase the sensation of his touch. Anekshi sighed.

"I don't think you'll be too surprised if I tell you that's because there was. Is. Ryou Bakura shares his body with a spirit, but not the way Yugi does. And not the way you do." Anekshi paused and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for possessing you. It's not something I've done to you often, and I won't do it again if I can help it."

"It's fine. Do I usually end up in your memories when you possess me?" Yamuko asked, still desperate to distract herself. Ryou shared his body with a spirit? Then why hadn't she seen the spirit? And why did it have such a terrifying presence?

"No. At least I don't think so. You never mentioned it before." Anekshi paused and glared at her. "Were you snooping around? That's not very lady-like." Lady-like. Yamuko closed her eyes. She'd heard that sentence before. Often. From different people, in different voices. Then she remembered it.

 _"I'm fourteen, why do I have to get married?" Yamuko scowled as she crossed her arms. Her brother was sitting on the other side of the room, being of absolutely no help and staring intently at his computer screen pretending that he couldn't hear his sister being sold for profit._

 _"You don't have to get married darling. Just engaged. Marriage comes when you turn eighteen." Came a sickeningly sweet voice. Yamuko rolled her eyes at the voice._

 _"Why is it that when it comes to anything I want, I'm too young to know what I want, but if it's something you want then suddenly I'm grown up and mature enough?" Rebelliously, Yamuko placed her feet on the low coffee table. Her mother, a red haired woman whose face Yamuko couldn't quite discern even in the memory, gasped in shock._

 _"Yamuko! That's not very lady-like! Get those feet off the table!" She commanded. Even more rebelliously, Yamuko lifted her feet just a few centimetres above the table. The groan of exasperation was worth the muscle cramps in her abdomen._

 _"There's no need for you to throw a fit, Yamuko. We don't even know if you're his type. Yet."_

"Yamuko?" And like that, the memory was gone. Yamuko rubbed her temple, wincing from the headache that came with every new bit of information. It was a strange feeling. Family was supposed to be feel like something you want, right? With just these flashes, Yamuko felt as if she hadn't lost very much by forgetting all about them. Then again, Daiki was one of the first people she remembered. Maybe he changed since that memory, or maybe he wasn't usually like that. Everything she remembered were just snippets, small pieces, but she could feel the emotions as strongly as if it just happened.

"I just remembered something." Yamuko muttered, lowering her hand. "My relationship with Seto. Apparently, my parents pushed me hard to get engaged with him." She paused and looked up at the spirit. Anekshi said nothing, and Yamuko was reminded that Anekshi had been there when the memory took place. Anekshi had been by her side for a long time now.

"Maybe I should scold you more often." Anekshi sighed and rose gracefully. Yamuko sighed as well and lied down, staring at the ceiling. If that's how the relationship started, how come she felt warmly towards him now? And what was going on with Ryou? Why was everything so messy? The amnesia had left her feeling blank, naked and anxious, but the fragmented memories coming back to her made it even worse. Exhausted and in pain, Yamuko closed her eyes and made another attempt at sleeping.

Usually, it helps to sleep when you're worried about something. Yamuko felt a little better about the situation when she woke up, but then immediately remembered she was going to live in the same house with someone she was supposed to remember a lot more about than only the bare minimum. And there was still the whole Ryou-thing going on, too. Whatever the whole Ryou-thing was. Her hands were shaking as she allowed the nurses to help her into a wheelchair.

Seto didn't show up in person to come collect her, which was both a relief and not a surprise to her. What was a surprise was the short, black haired kid in a striped blue jacket. He looked vaguely familiar, though Yamuko couldn't recall who he was at all. Terrified, she looked around the room for Anekshi.

"Seto's busy organizing a… Secret! But I'm here to pick you up instead." The kid smiled, and Yamuko smiled as best as she could, trying to figure out whether or not she knew this person.

"That's nice of you." Anytime now, Anekshi.

"Sure thing! Although… I'm a little bummed he's leaving me out of the planning. I'm good at planning stuff!" The kid declared and walked over to her wheelchair. Standing, he probably wouldn't reach to her elbows, Yamuko thought.

"His name is Mokuba. He's Seto's younger brother." Anekshi's voice whispered from behind her. Yamuko nearly yelped in shock, but quickly covered for it by reaching for her arm. Mokuba raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything. Instead he snapped his fingers for one of the black suits to start pushing her wheelchair.

"I'm sure he'll include you in the planning later on Mokuba." Yamuko offered him a smile. Mokuba smiled back at her, then turned to face ahead of him.

"I'll make it the best tournament ever! Wait, I didn't say tournament!" Mokuba slapped a hand over his mouth, doing his best to swallow the words he'd already spoken out loud. Yamuko smiled, leaning back in her wheelchair.

"It's not that big of a surprise. Seto's been looking for a way to get his title back from Yugi, this was only a matter of time." Yamuko paused, wondering how she knew anything about that. Mokuba blinked as he looked at her.

"Seto said you have memory loss. Did you remember that because you're in love with him?" Shit, was that something that had happened less than three months ago? Yamuko groaned, reaching for her temple. Why were her brains being so inconsiderate of her pretences?

"Honestly, my brain is just a mess. Sometimes I remember things without even realizing it. I'm not sure what it means, really, but Seto was one of the first things I thought of when I opened my eyes." Yamuko offered, unsure of Mokuba's reaction. He was frowning, though not directly at her.

"Seto says that any sentence that begins with 'honestly' or 'to be honest' is a lie. Did you really forget about the past three months?" Where did this twerp learn about psychology like that? Yamuko blinked, refraining from answering Mokuba. Luckily, it seemed to work because the boy started laughing awkwardly. "Then again… You were in an accident and a coma for several weeks. So… Sorry, Yamuko. I'm trying to make conversation but this is all really weird."

It was weird. And it continued to be weird, but Mokuba stopped trying to interrogate her after they left the hospital. In an absurd display of his power and wealth, Seto had sent a helicopter to pick them up and take them to his mansion. Yamuko wondered whether it had been a decision made for their safety. Seto knew she hadn't been the target of the attack, so it wasn't too dangerous to draw attention to herself that way, but on the other hand they weren't sure what the people behind the accident actually wanted. And if they were related to her brother's disappearance.

"Do you really not remember the accident at all?" Mokuba had to be nosy again. At least here there was no one around to listen in on them. The helicopter was so noisy that they had to wear a headset to communicate, but none of the suits were wearing them. Yamuko wondered exactly how much Seto had trusted Mokuba with.

"A little." She confessed. After all she'd told Seto as much. The kid looked at her expectantly, to which Yamuko didn't really know what to say. "It hurts my head to remember it, but… I remember tires shrieking, a car coming for me. It was so loud I could see it. It's a really strange feeling to feel your bones breaking like they're raw noodles. Snap, and you're in pieces on the ground." She paused to touch her arm briefly. Mokuba's face looked a little paler, and Yamuko suddenly realized it might not be pleasant to imagine.

"Sorry. That sounded a little weird didn't it?"

"I'm sorry I keep asking you dumb stuff. I guess I didn't think about how it would feel to be in an accident." Mokuba muttered, turning to look out of the window. "Oh look! There's home!" He gestured, excited to have found a distraction. Yamuko smiled and followed his extended hand.

Their house was a mansion. Unsurprisingly. The front entrance was emboldened by an impressive reconstruction of Roman architecture. Not unsuitable, since Kaiba Corp was nearly an economic empire of its own. Six pillars rose up high, sharing the weight of a triangular pediment on them. Instead of depicting the daily life of Romans, or even Roman gods, Seto had it decorated with dragons. Of course he had. Yamuko caught herself smiling and straightened up.

Seto was supposed to be in the city, working on his grand master plan to take back his title of worldwide champion. He wasn't. When the helicopter landed in the spacious and lush green garden, Seto came out of the house to meet them. Yamuko suspected he figured something out, and she was right.

"I hope the flight was okay." He said, stepping behind her wheelchair to take it from the suit pushing it. The man saluted and stepped back. Now Yamuko was sure there was more to his kindness. She leaned back in her wheelchair slightly to look up at him.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"I launched a mobile, holographic projector for Duel Monsters. The Duel Disk." Seto started. He'd get to the point soon enough, so Yamuko just gave him a single nod. "They're meant to be used in my tournament, which I'm sure Mokuba has told you about."

The black haired kid who was trailing alongside them just shrugged. Yamuko gave him a smile and turned her attention back to Seto.

"So what happened?" She insisted.

"Thieves. The Duel Disks are only meant to be handed out to the best of the best duelists, but our system was hacked so people were able to take them. From what we were able to glimpse, they wear purple capes. That can't be a coincidence." Purple capes. Like the people who kidnapped Ananke. Yamuko bit her tongue pensively, trying hard to recall anything else about the incident. It'd happened too fast.

"Are you tracking them?" She asked.

"That's the problem. We don't have access to information about them." In other words, a dead end. Yamuko nodded, brushing her hand over her recovering arm. It didn't hurt as much anymore.

"I guess I have to enter the tournament, then." She decided.


End file.
